Food-serving appliance



Feb. 23, 1954 N. w. ROOP 2,670,234

FOOD-SERVING APPLIANCE Filed Oct. 1, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR [Val/tan, W20

ATTORNEY Feb, 23, 1954 N. w. ROOP FOOD-SERVING APPLIANCE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m5: on. 1, 1951 I 1- III FIG-.4.

INVENTOR Roam BY W W m a ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 23, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FOOD-SERVING APPLIANCE Nathan W. Roop Columbu's, Ohio, assignor to Columbus Plastic Products, Inc.', Columbus, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 1', 1951, Serial N 0. 249,154

' 1 Claim. (01; 2949-99) Thisinvention relates to culinary appliances, having particular reference to appliances of the type employed in the handling of loose bulky foods ofiering considerable spatial mass, such as leaf salads or the like.

An object of the invention is to provide an appliance in the form of a pair of tongs and embodying a plurality of shank or jaw members which are joined at their inner ends by a spring bow, the latter being so constructed as to permit the shank members to'be relatively disconnected for separate use when desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide food-serving tongs composed of a pair of separable members, each of which comprises an integral one-piece molding produced from a thermoplastic or a thermosetting resin.

Still another object of the invention is to provide food tongs having incorporated therein novel Wider field of use of conventional design.

For a further understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a pair of food tongs constructed in accordance with .the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view disclosing the bowed resilient ends of the head- Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the food tongs of the present invention, disclosing in full lines the tongs in their position of closure in gripping articles of food between the heads thereof, setting forth the spacing of the shank members of the tongs to permit food articles to be disposed between the same without pinching. In this figure the normal or released position of the to'n'gs" is shown by dotted lines.

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the tongs;

Fig. 5 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4, and developing in hori zont'al cross section the molded detachable union provided between the shank elements of my improved food tongs;

Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse cross-sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 4.

The food tongs of the present invention comprise a pair of shank members which are formed to provide a resilient bow at one end of each thereof and a food-contacting or receiving head proved food tongs of the present invention comprise shank members disclosed at H] and H in the accompanying drawings. In this instance, theshank member H) has been shown as having the outer end thereof provided with an enlarged food-gripping and serving head l2, which parrality of elongated slots by a fOl'k-llk tin '5, whereby tO'GIiabI the a table: or serving spoon, These attributes The shank members It are preferably corrugated longitudinally thereof as indicated at 16, so that such shank members may be more securely gripped and engaged by the fingers of the user. Further, the strength thereof is increased by the provision of a longitudinally extending reinforcing rib 11 arranged on the inner side of each of said members, as shown more particularly in Figs. 1 and 6.

The shank member terminates at its inner end, that is, the end opposite to the head 12 thereof, in a semicircular bow l8, and, likewise, the shank member H has its inner end terminated in a complemental bow 19. Through these bowed regions resiliency is imparted to the shank members It! and II, the resiliency being such as to cause said shank members normally, and when released, to assume the positions of Fig. 1, or the broken line positions shown in Fig. 3. This reslliency or spring action on the part of the bows l8 and 19 may be overcome by the employment of pressure exerted manually and inwardly on said shank members, so that the latter may be forced together to assume the full line positions of Fig. 3, in which the heads IE3 and H of said shank members grip articles of food, indicated at 19, therebetween, securely holding such articles in association with the tongs. However, it will be observed by reference to Fig. 3 that the shank members 10 and H are spaced when the heads I2 and 13 thereof are forced together. This spacing is indicated at 20, and it will be noted that the same is of sufiicient magnitude so that the articles of food gripped between the heads 12 and i3 and projecting rearwardly thereof, will occupy such spacing without being injured or pinched by engagement with the shank members 10 and I 1.

Another important feature of the present invention resides in so uniting the bowed ends 18 and H! of the shank members as to permit of their ready dissociation or detachment from one another. Inasmuch as each of the shank members comprises a one-piece molding, it is highly desirable to form the attaching means so that the same will constitute integral constituent parts of said shank members. I have achieved this result by the construction disclosed in the drawings, wherein it will be noted that the bow of the shank member 10 terminates in an arcuate tongue 2| of semicircular formation, the same forming a socket 22 having a mouth 23 of restricted width, such restriction being produced by forming the tongue 2! at its outer end with an inwardly didirected lip 24, the said lip being disposed in opposing relationship to an integral rounded projection 25 extending outwardly and laterally from the end 26 of the bow 18.

Similarly, the bow is of the shank member H terminates in a semicircular finger extension 21, the outer end of which being adapted for engagement with the shoulder 28 of the lip 24, whilea groove 29 forms the juncture of the finger extension 21 and the bow I9 is adapted to receive the projection 25 of the bow l8.

Normally, the width of the finger extension 21, when measured across the distance existing between the groove 29 and the outer edge of the extension 21, is greater than that of the mouth '23 of the socket 22, so that the extension 21 will be flexed and placed under tension when the parts are forced together from the position disclosed in Fig. 2 of the drawing to the finally assembled position disclosed in Fig. 5. The flexing tension thus created produces sufficient friction between adjacent parts as to firmly maintain the two moldings comprising the composite tongs in their assembled formation. However, when it is desired to separate the shank members so that the two parts of the tongs may be used separately, the application of outwardly directed forces, as indicated by the arrows a, will effect such fiexure as to remove the projection 25 from the groove 29, allowing ready separation of the parts. Reversely applied pressures, of course, are used to reassemble the parts in operative tong formation.

In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention provides a pair of foodserving table tongs which are formed to comprise a pair of molded members of plastic composition. These members may be readily assembled or separated, as desired, to produce a culinary appliance having a considerably Wider field of usefulboth the tongue 2| and ness than conventional food tongs of one-piece construction and in which the shank members are permanently united. The members of my improved tongs are so formed that they lend themselves readily to formation in conventional heated molds employed in the commercial production of plastic articles, and for this reason my improved construction is capable of being manufactured at a low cost. At the same time, a very useful appliance of pleasing appearance is provided.

While the preferred form of the invention has been set forth in considerable detail, nevertheless it will be understood that the construction is subject to certain variations or modifications without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in the following claim.

I claim:

A food-serving appliance comprising: a pair of members each composed of an integral one-piece molding, each of said members being formed at one end thereof with a resilient bowed extension and at the opposite end thereof with an enlarged food-receiving and manipulating head, the first of said extensions terminating in an outer semicircular tongue element formed with a lip at its outer end, the second of said extensions terminating in an inner complemental tongue element slidably received within and embraced by the outer tongue element, the outer end of said inner tongue element terminating in contact with said lip.

NATHAN W. ROO-P.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,260,302 Barrows Nov. 26, 1918 1,380,232 Metcalf May 31, 1921 1,806,441 Bauer et al May 19, 1931 2,483,985 Sonn Oct. 4, 1949 2,560,376 Waterman July 10, 1951 

